BREAKING: Pedestrian bridge near Florida International University has collapsed.

a reply to: gernblan

the other thread should be locked www.dailymail.co.uk...

the latest at this link says up to 10 dead .......the students had to cross a 7 lane highway so I can see where they would want a pedestrian over pass.......but talk about a colossal failure...and those close up pics of the crushed cars..it is like after the earthquake and the overpasses and freeway collapsed fell......thank goodness the pedestrains were not allowed on it until next year

at least up to 10 dead...6 people have been transported to the hospital..1 person suffered cardiac arrest..at least 8 vehicles trapped under the bridge .......they were waiting for the red light to change

I have been working on and off in the construction of elevators for the past 31 years.

Mind you, we take our job very seriously and don't take short cuts because it takes what it take to make sure an elevator is safe to use before turning over to the public.

But, in other trades and construction methods, I have witnessed the decline of quality and design. Jobs are rushed, money talks. Safety is sometimes overlooked despite many safety rules in place.

This bridge collapse is no surprise to me. Waiting for a high rise building to come tumbling down one day. Back in the day, there was a thing called pride in ones work, quality was of utmost importance. Now a days, stuff just gets thrown together and move on to the next project.

Prayer to the families of those affected.

F minus.

double post...sorry....is there not a way to delete a post when there are muliples???

a reply to: Groot

thanks for your input...the link I posted says that both construction companies have been accused of shoddy construction practices over the years

not sure if it was mentioned in this thread but the company who performed structural monitoring during the move tweeted about it on mar 12, then deleted that very tweet just moments after the collapse

pbs.twimg.com...

they were probably the ones responsible for the stress test that caused the collapse.

People are calling them out on their BS in their latest tweet as well

twitter.com...

a reply to: jidnum

www.dailymail.co.uk...

at least up to 10 dead...6 people have been transported to the hospital..1 person suffered cardiac arrest..at least 8 vehicles trapped under the bridge .......they were waiting for the red light to change at least up to 10 dead..
both companies involved have been accused of shoddy construction practices in the past

a reply to: research100

deleted tweet should be the smoking gun that gets these guys investigated on, fined up the butt and put out of business.

Why delete a tweet? just made it 1000x times worse. Looks guilty as hell.

originally posted by: eNumbra

originally posted by: Krakatoa
Looking at the current news coverage, and some of the photos and "artist renditions" of the design for the finished projectt, it seems the vertical support structure (looking like a ships mast with lines down to the flat segments) was not installed yet. If I am mistaken, perhaps someone in the area can confirm or deny this assumption on my part?

source

If so, then this should never have been installed without additional (temporary) vertical supports until that all important superstructure was installed.

So a suspension bridge? And they built the support structure last?

That’s some serious lowest bidder # if true.

The university designed their own bridge. It's supposed to be a pedestrian walkway for students to get from the accommodation buildings to the campus. Supposed to an "Accelerated Construction project" where the bridge was installed in a couple of steps.

a reply to: research100

We heard on the way hom eon the radio there are 18 cars trapped - and - yes, there was a test.

Can I prove it? Probably never. We'll see.

On the Daily Mail's page the following struck me as significant:

Two workers were replacing something on the side of the bridge when it collapsed, according to CBS Miami.

Upon checking the CBS Miami page, I could find no mention of the above text.

Community gathers to watch 950-ton bridge move acrss Southwest 8th Street

Said Leonor: “It’s very important for me as a woman and an engineer to be able to promote that to my daughter, because I think women have a different perspective. We’re able to put in an artistic touch and we’re able to build, too.”

They're already trying to make this into a face/sex war.

a reply to: LightSpeedDriver

Daily Mail

Two workers were replacing something on the side of the bridge when it collapsed, according to CBS Miami.

I can't find it in CBS either, but I did find this:

Firms behind construction of collapsed Miami bridge have history of safety complaints

A special construction method was used on the pedestrian bridge that collapsed in Florida on Thursday, killing several people.
The method is known as "accelerated bridge construction," and it's meant to minimize traffic disruption and maximize safety. But CBS News has learned that two firms involved in the construction have been accused of unsafe practices in the past.

Perhaps the central mast from the design was deemed too phallic and sent images of toxic masculinity into the fragile students there. SO, they decided to ease into the construction by erecting the footbridge deck first, then the large phallic mast later next year once the students calmed down and stroked their puppies in their safe rooms.

Wow, just wow.

my initial quick analysis

- this was a cable - stayed bridge

en.m.wikipedia.org...

But the pylon that contained the cables that would carry the weight of the bridge span was not even constructed yet. The public release shows it here....

news.fiu.edu...

- it looks like they built the bridge span along the side of the highway by cast in place and pre-cast concrete sections. I would imagine it would be a matter of weeks to build tat entire span ( build cast in place concrete form structures, rebar install, concrete placement, cure time etc)
It was then “ swung” into place from the side of the road 90 degree across the 6 lane high way.
THE SHORING AND TEMPORARY STRUCTRAL SUPPORT SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN REMOVED.

I’m sure keeping that temporary support in place would cost additional $$$ for additional traffic plan, police details, 24hour construction personnel re- routing traffic etc.

I’d love to see what structural engineer signed off on being able to remove that support with the permanent cable stayed span not yet inplace.

That guy/girl who justified the removal of the support over a high traffic 6 lane highway ( vibration, high traffic volume, etc) is going to jail.

Here is a time lapse of the bridge build and move

a reply to: roadgravel

www.dailymail.co.uk...

firm that built Miami bridge being sued fir walkway collapse at Ft Lauderdale airport in 2016 and their partner team was charged 28 thousand dollars when 4 were injured when a section of rail bridge fell (that bridge weighted 90 tons) this happened in 2012

a reply to: research100

the latest daily mail says there were workers "on the bridge" that's as close as I can find to the "working on the side of the bridge"

a reply to: research100

update www.dailymail.co.uk...

one of the engineering trucks was smashed under the bridge...the company refuses to say whether they were doing stress testing or not.........not looking good

Design probably used lots of simulations. We have a simulation department that follows up on all our test then they tell us the real world is wrong. We laugh and do it our way.